Locked out of Virgin emails 7 days, Virgin assistants cannot help get me in

[MissGrace]

On 6th February 2024 Virgin locked me out of my Virgin email account, no idea why, there was no security threat according to Virgin 150 experts. It said..........

Your Virgin Media Mail account is currently unavailable

This is either because your Virgin Media Mail account is locked, or because you don’t have an active account with us anymore.

If you have an existing Virgin Media Mail account with us, please follow the steps below, as your account may have been locked as a security precaution.

Follow these steps unlock your Virgin Media Mail account

Step 1.
Go to My Virgin Media : to create a new password for your My Virgin Media account. We need you to create a new password for this account as there may have been a security breach.

Select Sign In
Select Forgotten your email or password? under the password box
Follow the instructions to change your password

Step 2.
Next, we need you to generate a new password to be used specifically for signing in to third-party mailbox apps (like Outlook or Gmail) to access your Virgin Media Mail emails. Even if you don’t use these apps to access your emails now, we still need you to reset the password anyway to fully secure your account.

Sign In to My Virgin Media
a. Go to Account settings, then Account details
b. Tap Manage next to Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password under Virgin Media Mail
c. Then, under Virgin Media Mail app password tap Get password
Continue the flow and a new secure password will be generated for you
Update any third-party apps that you use to access your Virgin Media Mail emails with this new app password

Please note that as this password is separate from your sign in details for My Virgin Media (or any Virgin Media apps) this won’t affect your My Virgin Media password. So, if you check your Virgin Media Mail emails through My Virgin Media or at mail.virginmedia.com, you'll still only need your My Virgin Media password.

Step 3.
Once your password's reset, make sure your emails are not being forwarded without your knowledge.

Go to mail.virginmedia.com
Sign in with your username and password
Click on Menu (top right) and then, Settings
Expand the Email option
Select Auto Forward

I spoke to Ryan (I think that was his name) on 150 the same day and these instructions were carried out, he said it is because my blueyonder email address is old I will now have to get to my emails through a gmail log in. So he asked me to log into my gmail account, Ryan changed the password and hey presto still locked out, over an hour later not resolved, told me he would have to pass this to a higher team, it would take 5 days. On 12th February I called 150 again spoke to Grace, who tried to get me back into my emails, hey presto, yet again she could not help, she tried.  She said I was due a call noted on her system for 13th Feb (today) at 4.20pm it is now 6.00pm, no call.  But she also said because I had called on the 6th day, when Ryan should have told me 5 working days I have to wait another 5 to 7 days. She then gave me a number of a team that could help with emails but they will charge,  WHAT?  it is Virgin who have locked me out, why can't anyone get me back into my Virgin emails.  I have a Thunderbird account that I have not used since 2022,so I have just tried to send an email as a test to my gmail, it is saying Sending of the message failed. Unable to authenticate to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.virginmedia.com. Please check the password and verify the 'Authentication method' in 'Account Settings | Outgoing server (SMTP)'.  I have emails on my obsolete ancient Samsung Android which I often use to check my emails, but cannot access them it says "sign in failed server password has been changed.  Input the changed password for my blueyonder email.  So I try the old and new password that Ryan and Grace on 150 changed but I have no idea if they changed it on my email log in, Virgin log in or server, whichever way I still cannot get in to my Virgin emails.  I can't even get into Virgin account today which I could yesterday, but not my emails.

I am now thinking it is unsafe to use Virgin emails, on my emails I have many folders which have my hospital appointments, due next week and I cannot remember times as I arranged these appointments by email, I have concert tickets to be printed off, a CV within a folder that I desperately need to send for a job I an applying for, but I am running out of time for deadline date.  I am getting anxious, lots of people contact me on my blueyonder email and I now have lost all my contact email addresses so can't let them know why I AM NOT REPLYING TO THEM.  This is a really bad service and I feel stressed by the lack of care for me as a service user of nearly 16 years. I was never warned that because I have an old blueyonder email address set up in 2008 that I would be locked out of my emails!  I have warned friends who have a blueyonder address to be careful they may be locked out of their emails too.  Has anyone else experienced this and was it resolved quickly??

[MissGrace]

Yes Kath as been an enormous help, got me into the emails, app password changed to a strange password which I have to keep for further app problems on server settings.  I just worked out last night how to change the password on the outgoing server on my mobile too and it worked so I am pleased.. I probably won't work out how I got there, but Kath said I did very well considering she could not see what I was doing bu t guided me as best she could.  Thanks go to Kath and thank you to you for replying too.

[jpeg1]

@MissGrace.

It's great to hear that you have regained access to those important emails. Could I suggest that you now copy that information to an offline backup? 

It's unsafe to rely on an online email server (and particularly a VM one at the moment) as a permanent store. They aren't really designed or guaranteed for that purpose, as many people have found to their cost.